How Vantage Learning Can Support ELL Instruction
By qualticPosted in Because Writing Matters, Lesson Plans Comments Off
According to Short and Echevarria, “Teachers can use the regular core curriculum and modify their teaching to make the content understandable for ELLs” (2004). And the NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) has provided guidelines for teachers to help non native speakers develop their knowledge and use of English using specific strategies.
These can be supported by Vantage Learning solutions. Review these strategies and add your own suggestions in the comment section below:
Strategy for teaching ELL: Provide a nurturing environment for writing
How Vantage Learning supports ELL instruction:
- Revision goals and modeling help demystify what proficient writing is by explicitly stating advice with examples.
- Instruction will include supplementary materials such as offline instructional tools such as The Writer’s Guide, and graphic organizers to help students develop ideas gradually.
- Practice status is available for prompts so grades will not be recorded and students are free to practice writing.
- Scores can be turned off for any prompt so students can practice writing.
- Introduce cooperative, collaborative writing activities which promote discussion and promote peer interaction to support learning
- Prepared peer review comments are available to guide students in focus, positive peer review.
- Teacher comments are automated and can be general or embedded into a specific place in the essay.
Strategy for teaching ELL: Provide frequent meaningful opportunities for students to generate their own texts. Design writing assignments for a variety of audiences, purposes, and genres
How Vantage Learning supports ELL instruction:
- Teachers have access to over 1100 prompts and can create their own prompts.
There are five writing genres to choose from. Purposes include: telling a story, summarizing or convincing. Audiences include: parents, principals and friends
- MY Access! prompts are aligned to state and textbook standards.
Strategy for teaching ELL: Scaffold the writing instruction
How Vantage Learning supports ELL instruction:
- My Tutor’s immediate diagnostic feedback is scaffolded so students can review goals for revision that apply to their proficiency status for each submission.
- My Editor identifies errors most commonly made and provides instructional feedback on Spelling and Grammar in their native language.
- Spanish language My Tutor feedback is available so students can review feedback about their writing in their native language.
- Data for ELL learners can be collected and “crunched” through extensive reporting features so teachers can target instruction.
Strategy for teaching ELL: Provide models of well-organized papers for the class.
How Vantage Learning supports ELL instruction:
- For each Intellimetric prompt, writing models for each score point are available. Each essay is accompanied by comprehensive commentary that addresses the five traits of writing.
- Instructional Units and lesson plans provide step by step instructions to teach teachers show students how to evaluate writing.
Strategy for teaching ELL: Teachers should consider glossing sample papers with comments that point to the specific aspects of the paper that make it well written; Offer comments on the strength of the paper, in order to indicate areas where the student is meeting expectations; Give more than one suggestion for change — so that students still maintain control of their writing.\
How Vantage Learning supports ELL instruction:
- Embedded comments and My Tutor feedback encourage students as they point to areas of improvement.
- Teachers should consider beginning feedback with global comments (content and ideas, organization, thesis) and then move on to more local concerns (or mechanical errors) when student writers are more confident with the content of their draft;
- Teachers can select the traits to “turn on” in the Assignment Wizard to focus instruction. For early drafts, turning off or hiding My Tutor feedback for Language Use and Mechanics is encouraged. Teachers may also turn off My Editor as needed.
- My Tutor feedback at each score point contains at least two revision goals
Students create revision strategies and reflect on their changes in the Revision Plan - A list of comprehensive prepared embedded comments about all traits of writing is available.
Strategy for teaching ELL: Do not assume that every learner understands how to cite sources or what plagiarism is. Students should be provided with strategies for avoiding plagiarism.
How Vantage Learning supports ELL instruction:
- Informational and Literary My Tutor feedback details the procedure and thought process behind citing texts.
- Instructional handouts such as MLA and APA Style Guides and graphic organizers explain how students can help students build their own ideas and attribute the ideas of others.
Resources
NCTE Position Paper on the Role of English Teachers in Educating English Language Learners (ELLs) Prepared by the NCTE ELL Task Force Approved by the NCTE Executive Committee April 2006.
Short, D and Eschevarria, J. “Teacher Skills to Support English Language Learners.” Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.